Thirty Seven delightul Islingtonians were raring to get out there and be good, do good and look good last night. Let's give our first timers, Katy, Ranj, Selina and Colleen a massive cheer.

So, THREE tasks means three mini reports. Here we go:

WHITTINGTON WANDERERS

John and Steve led a crew of 10 people up to Whittington Community Centre for a spot of weeding. A place we journey to every couple of weeks. I don't know what they put in the soil in Whittington, but the weeds seem to grow with ferocity, so there's always plenty to do. That said, there was a bit of uncertainty over what was a weed and what wasn't. A debate ensued, which is just as well because we had forgotten all about Simon's debate......oops!) Weeds? Some said anything green, some anything not pretty. The superficiality of modern life won through, and we yanked out all the ugly weeds and left the pretty ones in place to brighten up the place. Job done, we jogged back a bit early just to make sure nobody stole our seats in the pub.

GORGEOUS GRENVILLE

It's been a while since we've been to Grenville and a few of us had forgotten that's it's quite uphill to get there. But having not been there since the winter, it was lovely to see it in the sun! We had three tasks to tackle at the garden. The most popular was varnishing the raised flower beds, but with only six brushes to use the task was taken by the quickest to grab a brush! We also had a classic task for GoodGym...shovelling and moving soil. The guys eagerly grabbed some forks and shovels and got it all cleaned up, sieved and into bags, ready to be used in the garden. The third was to rebuild a bug den (no we didn't know what it was either) that had fallen down. After a bit of creativity and a balancing act the bug den was rebuilt as a 5 star hotel to house all creatures great and small, see photo. After a quick team photo we started a much nicer downhill run back!

BARNSBURY BEAUTIES

A lovely outing to Barnsbury Community Centre for 12 of us. We had two jobs: Del, Will and Mel planted an olive tree, which looked simple, but wasn't so straightforward when they realised they had to dig into what was practically concrete. The rest of us set about painting a couple of wooden seats (constructed from pallets) with preserver. the job was done in next to no time and Colleen even made sure the grass was free of spills with some paper towel positioning. Following a bit of core while Kike and Dina cleaned the brushes (hurry up!) on the journey back we played our favourite game of secret surges, which included a cheeky road crossing surprise from Dina and Caroline trying to get us all run over. We then did various skipping and sprinting bits and bobs before passing one of the groups already on their way to the pub! Arrgh!

OTHER BITS

Biscuits were chocolate oaty things from Tesco. They were pretty good.

The big debate question was about the true start of the week. Sunday or Monday? Strava forces you to start on a Monday, Garmin defaults to Sunday (but gives you the option of changing to Sat, Sun or Mon). Some university timetables start on Sundays. Traditionally the working week starts on a Monday. Sunday is part of the weekend* surely? Well, we put it to the vote and poor old Sunday only got a couple with the vast majority loving Mondays. Del said Wednesday. Naughty. Of course, Monday must be the correct answer since your week doesn't truly start until you've GOODGYMMED

Post-tasks it was down the Famous Cock for a pint, a platter or a smoothie. Thanks to Kike for organising this. Word on the street is this will become a monthly event!

Loads of good done all over the borough this evening. See you next week (that's the start of the week, which is Monday). It's Bank Holiday, but we still have two tasks on the go. A choice of Barnsbury Square Gardens or Thornhill Square. Oooh.

Love, hugs and kisses xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Simon

BYE BYE, SUMMER

So, summer's over.

But that didn't stop 33 of us, including 5 newcomers who don't mind braving the rain. Welcome to Vicky, Jill, Sarah, Shirin and Katie.

Double Tasking tonight!

Barnsbury

Simon describes the trip to Barnsbury Community Centre:

It was just under a year ago that we first visited Barnsbury Community Centre to start helping with their project to transform the vacant green spaces on the Barnsbury Estate into sustainable, community-friendly gardens.

Over the last year we've paid several visits. We've hammered in stakes, we've dug rings and circles, we've shifted tons of soil, we've filled raised beds, we've hammered in nails, we've painted, we've weeded, we've stapled, we've watered and we've constructed raised beds and a gigantic "S"! The project has really taken shape now and it's so nice to see such a big transformation. It was basically a big patch of grass when we first visited.

We were supposed to be doing a bit of painting and watering of plants tonight, but the rain stole the job of watering and ruined the possibility of painting. Thanks a bunch, rain! However, there was plenty still to do. The recent hot spell meant that weeds have sprung up everywhere, especially around the beautiful S-shaped feature in the garden, so a big group set about weeding and making sure that stays looking lovely. Another group had the task of transporting gigantic sacks of soil from one side of the garden's back gate to the other. Then local resident Elizabeth appeared and asked if she could have the soil transported round to the estate gardens next door. No problem. We were happy to oblige and wheelbarrowed like crazy.

We did get a little soggy, but spirits were not damp as we worked hard for 30 minutes and enjoyed a delicious malted milk biscuit.

On the way back to the pool we split into two groups. Patrick and Steve led an easier-paced group back for circuits/cones and Simon worked a group hard with lunges, high knees running, hops, skips and pogos. We discovered that pogos are even more fun if you add sound effects "boing boing boing".

WPCA

Whittington Park Community Association needed some folk to help keep the ground of their newly-refurbished One O'Clock Club weed free. John led the group up for this one and Aidan describes their evening:

9 Goodgymers took up the challenge of a longer run and with the rain and humidity it was a bit tougher than normal! Arriving at the task we were ready to start weeding, but we had a massive shortage of gloves between us. Luckily Alex had an improvised idea which led to the creation of some waterproof gloves with a sleek design (a ripped up black bag tied at the wrist) but they worked great and we set to work.

The heat and rain had brought the snails out so we had to be careful not to step on them and we did a bit of rehousing, bringing snail families back together. This led on to a question no one could answer, how do snails reproduce? After a quick bit of googling our weeding turned into a biology lesson (FYI they lay eggs, up to 100 a time!). Next we had a few Goodgymers who were keen to do some quick exercises before we headed back. But what to do first, biscuits or exercises? Lucy thought exercises, Frances thought biscuits. Most people agreed biscuits first which Lucy wasn't happy about! (see photo)

A quick round of exercises included some planking, burpies, press ups, high knees and many more with a favourite being John's karate style kicks and punches. With the rain still drizzling we headed back with Frances egging Graham on to a sprint finish up the hill before getting back for Tim Tams at Highbury Pool (Thanks Alex!)

BEING IN LOVE, STRETCHING, TIM TAMS AND IMPERIAL GETTING LEATHERED

Courtesy of Patrick's 3G and famous speaker we had a nice listen to Ivo's interview with Chris Evans (it's at 2 hours 21 minutes) while stretching and enjoying one of Alex's Tim Tams all the way from Australia. Thank you Alex!

The big question for the evening was metric vs. imperial. We had a lot of "it depends" answers, but when we limited the question to distances - actually, just running distances, metric was the clear winner. BY MILES! HAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!11!!!

See you next week, Simon

P.S. Tip o' the GoodGym cap to Patrick for Run Report Title

A crew of 12 ran an amazing 7.5km in 40 minutes up to Surrey Docks Farm to help sort out some overgrown flowerbeds.

Creative license over distance was unintentional but panned out well as everyone absolutely nailed it!

The last few weeks have been all about weeding and people being able to finally plant things that won't get frosted to death. This week was no different. Aside from all of the animals, the epic run and the delicious sunshine. And did I mention the babycham bucket?

Our group assembled and welcomed Amy along for the first time. Gorgeous sunshine in Peckham meant that we were bobbing and weaving our way up Rye Lane a little but made it clear in no time. As Beth mentioned, it felt like a mini tour of some other tasks at Peckham Platform and Galleywall Nature Reserve but onwards we went. All the way passed Surrey Quays Station and towards proper docklands areas.

We were welcomed to Surrey Docks Farm by Gemma who promptly got us water as it was such a warm and lovely night. She showed us some of the animals there, a calf who was born in October, pregnant Esther the pig and some very, very cute lambs. After we'd gotten over the sight, we set to work clearing some overgrown flowerbeds that are to be raised and used for community allotments. This is as well as making the unused areas less of a buggy runway and more engaging and nice to look at.

The farm is used as a learning experience for children and to engage the local community. It's a welcome sight in the shadows of Canary Wharf and the hustle of the city.

We cleared mint, potatoes and lots of nettles as well as some hefty rocks and made progress, as ever, in no time. Well before we wanted it to be, time was up and we got a quick feed in with the pigs and the calf.

Sun setting, it was time to race down Rotherhide New Road for some to run the full distance and others, taking a leaf out of GoodGym Westminster, to catch the overground back to Peckham.

Luckily, we made it back at not too dissimilar times ready to stretch off and discuss food.

For the second ever GoodGym Southwark social, we were meant to be off to Forzawin but due to our massive and wonderful group, we ended up on a table hunt and found just the thing at John the Unicorn. Beth and Michael celebrated by being the first people to ever order the Babycham bucket. Despite the suggestion, I'm not sure babycham will become a 'thing' for us to have everytime but it's always good to have a throw back. Menu aside: Salted shortbread is not the one

Well done runners. That was a lovely evening well spent and excellent effort on the distance covered.

This week 25 glorious good-deeders graced the streets of Islington for our third journey to Sunnyside Community Gardens. An amazing community garden in Archway that is for all to enjoy and specialises in therapeutic horticulture for those with physical and mental disabilities.

Among us were first timers Nadia, Del, Katherine, Ceiran, Kim, David and David. A very warm welcome!

We split into three groups for the journey up: fast feet folk led by Graham, medium men and women taken by David and philosophers with Simon.

On our journey up we discussed how we all had an axe to grind with drivers. Apparently lots of things bug us about them: not indicating, tailgating, middle lane hogging, opening car doors on cyclists, stopping for no reason, not stopping at zebra crossings, not pulling over far enough, speeding, cutting up cyclists, and simply existing. Stupid drivers.

Anyway, we made it to the task without getting run over and met our hosts, the ever-keen Yvonne and Alan, who had plenty for us to do.

Half of us continued cutting back brambles and branches from the garden's corner. Loppers and secateurs were in action as usual, but some of the slightly thicker branches needed an AXE. Check out the photos and tell me these guys aren't having fun. There were a couple of wheelbarrows and buckets in action as a few of us carried the discarded foliage to its resting spot.

At the other end of the garden the rest of the GoodGymmers wielded shovels and spades (yeah, axes aren't the only things you can wield) and set about clearing a path of woodchip and made a gigantic pile held in place by some of the logs we shifted a couple of weeks ago.

Today's biscuit break took the form of a Bourbon Cream. Quite a popular choice.

Before heading off Richard showed Simon the "Skunk Cabbage" (Lysichiton americanus) in the garden's pond (see photos). I've read up on it and apparently "... it contains calcium oxalate crystals, which result in a gruesome prickling sensation on the tongue and throat and can result in intestinal irritation and even death if consumed in large quantities" Glad we remembered the Bourbons.

For the journey back we got into the same three groups. David's group sped off, Graham added in a few hill reps before zooming home and Simon's group played secret surges and took the blurriest selfie ever.

Another week of getting fit and doing good. Excellent tasking and running everybody. That's what it's all about.

Next week we're off to Barnsbury Square Gardens. Don't miss it!

Simon

P.S. William's head was not chopped off by an axe in the group photo.

With regular Camden trainer Paul “PB” Bown off performing in Les Mis (that’s right, isn’t it?) , Simon from Islington popped over to say hello tonight.

It was a quick getaway for the first group of Camdenites who were ably led by Becky and Pritesh to go and help make some beds at the homeless shelter in Goodge Street (as in sheets, not constructing the frames or anything).

For the last time this winter we headed to the American International Church to help Stephanie make beds for the homeless. In total only four beds needed to be made, testament to the work that the churches have done to help re-home those that have needed their help over the winter. With only a few beds needing to be made we also helped set the dinner table for that evening. This gave us a chance to show off our napkin origami with Becky being particularly skilled at making mice! Hidden talents everywhere! With that done we said our final goodbyes to Stephanie who is heading back to the USA and then headed off to join the group at the foodbank!

The rest of us – including first timer Nathan - had a little more time on our hands and did a nice warm up including a quick go at a couple of Running A- and B-drills before putting our new technical skills into practice with a few speedy strides.

Polly led us over to Chalk Farm foodbank where we were met by the lovely Adrienne who explained that our job for the evening was to collect crates of grub and affix different coloured stickers to each item of food according to its expiry year. There seemed to be a lot of cereal and breakfast food (or maybe I’m just saying that cos it makes the run report title easier). I don’t think any of us realised how tough it is to find the best before date on a lot of these packages. But we managed it and got through the whole lot. We were helped by the bed makers who finished their first task super speedily and joined us not long after the first group arrived.

Before hitting the streets for the journey home we took advantage of the carpeted floor and did a bit of core work. There were supermans, press ups, burpees, calf raises, split squats and a little bit of core-dination at the end.

For the trip back we split into two groups with Pritesh and Becky taking a longer route via recycling bins to drop off a few bits and pieces and Simon and Polly taking a more direct route and playing a little game of secret surges.

As we had a nice stretch back at the centre the new Camden “Top Tip of the Week” feature was introduced. This week the advice was to not waste money on expensive protein shakes. A blend of 500ml of milk, 50 grams of skimmed milk powder and 50 grams of milkshake powder will provide a nutritionally equivalent supplement for about a fifth of the price.

See you at some point in April, Camden. A pleasure as always :)

Simon

On Monday evening 20 brave Islington Good Gym-ers gathered in the cold to jog and do good. Oh, and because it's Islington, eat biscuits. In fact that was the subject of the days run debate. What biscuits should we have? Results later.

Paul warmed everyone up with some high knees, lunges and other associated exercises, and we were off! A faster group led by Patrick and Graham shot off sprinting around the park, before heading to our destination. Whilst Paul, Caroline and myself took a slower group, I say slower........in fact, it was like a herd of wildebeest charging across a busy Upper St, past the tube stop and to the relative quiet of the streets behind. I'm pleased to report that no pedestrians were trampled.

Wildebeest

Disappointed by the lack of trampling, as we neared our destination of Barnsbury Community Centre, Caroline dramatically threw herself on the floor mid-jog, in the hope she would get trampled. What a team player.

With both teams having arrived, we set about our task. Well, first we had to interrupt some sort of religious ceremony by all quietly charging through the middle of a room, like tip-toeing wildebeest, so as not to ruin the nice gospel singing going on around us.

'Dunk'

Like the previous week, half the group were banging stakes into the floor, and half shifting mud. Graham took the brave task of holding the stakes as people whacked them with hammers. You could see him physically vibrate every time a hammer went 'Dunk' on top of a stake.

The mud shifters stood around for a bit pondering where to put the mud, as all the bags were full. Then someone had a brainwave of clambering on top of the mud bags and stomping like they were making wine. it worked a treat and the mud shifting could commence.

Caroline nipped off to get biscuits, and despite the debate results being chocolate hobnobs or tim tams, came back with double chocolate. To be fair, who can resist double chocolate? One Good Gym-er had 5 biscuits!!

Double chocolate!

After the task we gathered for a nice group photo, and then set off back in to Highbury & Islington. On the run back Anna displayed her evasive skills, in panic jumping over a big black dog, only to find it was a bin liner (easily confused).

With everyone back Paul led the group through a few stretches, and then we departed, content with a good evenings work.

(Run Report by John Chyriwsky)